The Walk ('MOW'): The Phantom Li'l Engine That Could

If aliens are the first thing that people think of when it comes to The X-Files then ghosts has to be second. And while I personally believe in ghosts (or variations of them) I generally am not a fan of ghost stories. But The X-Files has managed to make every ghost story thus far seem interesting and original.

And, I guess, 'The Walk' isn't really a ghost story once the mystery is solved (the phantom soul as opposed to the phantom limb) but all the pieces are there (spectral body, nobody believing the victims, etc) and it makes for some haunting television. The other factor that adds to the supernatural is the all too real aspects of the episode that the X-Files excels at. In this case, an Army hospital full of injured soldiers. Without trying, 'The Walk' has managed to become a bit timeless. The soldiers in the episode where injured in the Gulf War and soldiers today are injured in the same areas of war. . .just for a different purpose at a different time.



It's really the 'real' parts of the episode that stick out as the most haunting. One character is a quadruple amputee (no arms, no legs) and simply imagining what that guy is going through is pretty haunting in itself. But he ends up being a murderer to prove a point (that being he is in pain and it sucks). I can't say I've ever had my morality scale tested so heavily. A)I felt bad for the quadruple amputee killer and b)I wanted the episode's first victim to kill himself so he could be at peace. What? How often can you say that in an hour of television?

Got to hand it to ace director Rob Bowman, the main man in the rotation of regular directors that's starting to build over the last two and a half years. He makes this episode truly cinematic. And the acting ain't shabby either. And, I suppose, the extra bonus was that I remembered virtually nothing about 'The Walk' so watching it this time was still surprising, fun, and creepy because, for the most part, I didn't know what was coming.



I suppose the major complaint is that while the episode is extremely visceral and creepy, it doesn't carry an emotional impact which is shocking since an eight year old is murdered in this episode (doesn't child murder just make you feel all warm and fuzzy???). But 'The Walk', for all it's successes, is the little episode that could; a bottle show that exceeds it's budget and expectations especially after the blistering start to the third season. Well done X-Files.